Walking-stick or cane attachment



July 21, 1925. 1,547,046

J. A. KING WALKING STICK OR CANE ATTACHMENT Filed May 12,. 1924 IN VEN TOR.

John A .King,

Patented July 21, 1925.

UNITED STATES JOHN ANDREW KING, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

WALKING-STICK OR CANE ATTACHMENT.

Application filed May 12, 1924. Serial No. 712,675.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN ANDREW KING, a citizen of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in l/Valking-Stick or Cane Attachments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention'relates to walking stick or cane attachments, and has for its primary object the provision, in a manner as hereinafter set forth, of an attachment for a walking stick designed to engage the fore arms of the user, upon the inner side thereof, to support and stiffen the wrist of the user so that a greater amount of body weight can be placed upon the cane without danger of the wrist giving way.

The invention is intended for all persons who use a cane for support, particularly where the person has received injury to a leg and uses the same to take the major part of the weight of the body off of the injured.

or weak limb,the invention strengthening the wrist so that this additional weight can be put thereon without the same giving away.

Canes without means of this sort for giving additional strength to the wrist are practically useless as the wrist would not take the extra strain. With this device in use, practically four-fifths of the weight of the body can be placed upon the cane without injury to the wrist.

This invention contemplates the use upon. a cane, of a substantially semi-circular saddle of strong and resilient material such as steel, which saddle has depending legs which are secured one at the front and the other at the rear portion or upon the rear of the crook of the cane, and is of such a height that when in use the forearm of the user will be positioned within the saddle at a point midway between the wrist and the elbow,

when thecrook of the cane is gripped in the hand.

When the cane, upon which this attachment is used, is cut in such a manner that it comes approximately three-fourths of an inch higher than the palm of the hand of the wearer, when the cane is stood upon the ground, the best results are obtained from the use of this attachment.

The attachment when positioned upon the cane, is so arranged that the arch of the saddle in which the forearm is positioned will i come between the forearm and the body of the user, and the device is used to best advantage when the tip of the cane, when placed upon the ground, is directed inwardly toward the foot of the user in order to throw the upper end outward to cause the saddle to bear against the innerside of the forearm, thus stiffening the wrist and preventing the same from collapsing when the weight of the body is placed thereon.

It is of course well known, that in the use of a cane, there is much side play and wrist movement, and even though a small amount of weight is placed upon the cane, the same has a tendency to sway inwardly or outwardly and thus hinder the walking of the user to a slight degree. No matter how strong the grip of the hand is upon the crock of the cane there is bound to be vibra tion and swaying of the upper end of the cane at the wrist. Difliculty is also experienced 1n retaining a firm grip upon the crook of the cane when the hand of the user becomes moist. This attachment is designed to overcome these difficulties and to impart rlgidity to the wrist so that the involuntar 1 side to side motion will be overcome and the user of the cane can move along at a more rapid gait and with a steadier and more measured stride. The device also helps the user to greatly increase the amount of weight which can be placed upon the cane, over the amount which the wrist would support if this device were not used.

final object of this invention is the provision, in a manner as hereinafter set forth, of a cane attachment which will be light in weight,'strong, sturdy, of neat appearance, inexpensive to manufacture and easily applied to any form of walking stick having a crooked handle.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming partof this specification, with the understanding that the invention is not confined to any strict conformity with the showing of the drawings, but may be changed and modified so long as such changes and modifications mark no material departure from the salient features of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure/1 is a perspective view of a walking stick equipped with the attachment constituting this invention and showing in dotted position the manner in which the attachment engages the arm of the user.

Figure 2 is a detail view of the device and the upper portion of a cane, the same being a side elevation thereof.

Figure 3 is a front elevation of the same.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a modified form of the device, showing the use of one supporting leg only for the arm saddle, the same being supported from the front portion of the cane.

Figure 5 is a detail perspective view of a slight modification of the device, the saddle thereof being Supported from a single leg, the same being attached to the rear of the crook of the cane. v

Referring now to the drawings in detail wherein like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawii'igs, a walking stick 1s indicated at 1 having the usual rubber or anti-skid tip 2 atthe lower end thereof, and having a crooked handle 3. This cane construction is typical of the ordinary crooked cane and forms no part of the present invention.

The device embodying this invention is indicated generally by the numeral f and this device comprises a substantially semicircular band of material 5' having its free ends downturned to form supporting legs 6 and 7 respectively. This semi-clrcular member 5, which constitutes a saddle for the forearm of the user, is adapted to engage and saddle upon the forearm upon the inside thereof, and the legs 6 and 7 are of a length sufficient to position the saddle at a point approximately six inches above the wrist of the user.

The leg 6 constitutes the rear leg and as is clearly shown in Figure 2, is slightly bowed so that the saddle ofthe device will be thrown toward the rear of the handle crook 3, whereas the forward leg 7 at the upper portion is curved forwardly and away from the rear leg as at 8 and the lower portion of the leg is reversely curved to briugthe same inwardly and downwardly as at 3 so that the lower end of the leg will be positioned upon the face of the cane body as shown.

Each of the legs 6 and 7 in addition to the form given them as just described, are bent backward beneath the yoke to form an acute angle with the underside thereof as is clearly shown in Figure 3, and the lower portion of the leg at 10 is bent to direct the terminus of the leg straight clownwardly at a point or in a position in align ment with the central portion of the yoke. Thus when the device is in position upon the canethe crook of the cane will be located directly beneath the central part of the yoke 5 so that the arm of the user will l straight down through the yoke to the crook of the cane without having to be bent at the wrist.

In applying this device to the cane recesses are formed therein one upon the face of the cane as at 11 and a similar one upon the rear portion of the crook 3, (the rear recess not being shown) and the terminal portions of the legs 6 and 7 are sunk into these recesses until the surfaces are flush with the body of the cane. Securing devices 12, such as screws or other appropriate means are provided for retaining the legs securely in these recesses.

In Figures 4 and ofthe drawings there is shown a slight modification of the device just described the yoke 5 here being shown as having one end free and one end only turned down to provide a supporting le in Figure 1 the yoke 5 has one end turned down to form a forward leg 7 similar in contourand shape to that leg 7 above referred to; This yoke supporting leg 7 is curved forwardly at 8 and reversely curved at 9 as in the former instant and is secured in the recess in the forward face of the cane in the same manner as the leg 7, where it is secured by means of similar securing devices 12.

In Figure 5, the yoke supporting leg {3" is identical with the leg 6 above referred to and is secured at its lower terminal portion in a recess in the rear of the cane crook 3 as the former instance.

The forms shown in Figures i and 5' are a little more resilient and do not hold the arm as rigidly as in the double leg type above described, otherwise th device is identical with the first mentioned type. It will be noted that the leg constructions 6 and 7 supporting the yoke 5 are also bent back at an acute angle beneath the yoke so that the yoke will be positioned directly above the central portion of the cane crook 3 to allow the forearn'i to extend directly through th cane crook without the necessity of bending the wrist to grasp the crock.

The forms set forth in the drawii'rgs are shown as being constructed for the use of the left hand, but it is of course to be understood that the identical type of device may be used with the saddle 5 extended in the opposite direction for the use of the right hand.

This device may be constructed of any suitable material such as nickeled steel or aluminum, and if desirable, the inner face of the saddles 5 and 5 may be padded so as to make the pressure of the device upon the forearm of the user a little easier than it might be if the plain metal were pressed against the arm;

From the foregoing description it may be seen that a very useful and necessary device is provided for use of persons, as before set forth, who have weal: Wrists or a poor grip, and this device is particularly beneficial to soldiers who have received injury to the forearm, for it holds and strengthens the forearm allowing them to use a cane with much more freedom and sooner than they could ordinarily if no such means were provided for sustaining the wrist.

Having thus described my invention What I claim is:

1. An attachment for canes having a handle comprising, a semi-circular band of material positioned horizontally to direct the open side thereof in a direction at right angles to the length of the cane, said band constituting a saddle to receive a forearm, and a leg member depending from each side of said saddle adjacent the open side there, of and adapted to be secured to the cane handle to support the saddle thereabove, each of the legs of said saddle extending inwardly at an angle therebeneath to position the center of the saddle directly above the cane handle.

2. An attachment for canes having a handle comprising, a semi-circular band of material positioned horizontally to direct the open side thereof in a direction at right angles to the length of the cane, said band constituting a saddle to receive a forearm, and a leg member depending from each side of said saddle adjacent the open side thereof and adapted to be secured to the cane handle to support the saddle thereabove, each of the legs of said saddle being curved to throw the saddle to the rear of the cane body above the handle and each leg further extending inwardly at an angle beneath the saddle to position the center thereof in alignment with the center of the cane handle.

3. An attachment for a cane having a handle comprising, a semi-circular band of material horizontally positioned to direct the open side thereof at right angles to the length of the cane above which it is positioned, said band constituting a saddle for the forearm of a user, and a single leg 6X-- tending downwardly from one side of said saddle adjacent the open side thereof, and adapted to be secured to the cane to support the saddle thereabove, said leg extending outwardly at an angle from beneath the saddle to position the center thereof directly above the center of the cane handle.

ture hereto,

JOHN ANDREW KING. 

